* I recently wrote an article for my column over at T-Nation. It was some non-fluff, no B.S. Holiday diet advice that will give you a better strategy the next few weeks than “drink more water” or “carry around celery sticks with you to all of your Holiday parties” or “buy a magic pill detox kit to start the New Year after your XXX-MAS debauchery”. I’ve included part of the intro section, the 5 actual tips, and a link to the full article published on T-Nation if you are interested.

THE INTRO SECTION

Here’s the unfortunate truth – almost all the holiday “diet” advice you get from a variety of mainstream sources goes against our natural human instincts, which is to feast like a beast once a day. It also goes against our evolutionary history and social patterns, which is to eat animals, and party like animals, at night.

That’s why those mainstream fitness tidbits rarely work. It sounds good on paper, but doesn’t work in real life situations when the animal inside takes over. Yet, we keep coming back to this fluff because we know we need some kind of help.

But what, you’re supposed to be cool with nibbling on a disturbingly unsatisfying 200-calorie, low-carb snack while everyone else is chowing down on a wicked dinner spread, hitting the open bar, and fooling around under the mistletoe? That’s like saying you can look all you want, but you can’t have sex over the holiday season – unnecessary, unfathomable, impossible. And it doesn’t have to be that way.

Everyone today is focused on Intermittent Fasting, which I think is a viable play call in a fat-slashing playbook. But I tend to focus on the infinitely more fun part, The Intermittent Feast. Cut calories and carbs at night? Ha! Maybe if you want to hate your life.

One of the core principles is an eating structure that mimics our evolutionary past, the hunt and feast structure – eat lighter while active during the day, eat the majority of your calories and carbohydrates at night while relaxing or socializing.

Doesn’t that already sound more doable over this upcoming holiday season? If not, good luck with your snack packs. If yes, lets dive into some feasting details.

THE 5 TIPS

1. Don’t Eat Light at Night — when you try to cut calories at night you binge anyways, eating at night doesn’t make you fat, eating too many calories over the entire day makes you fat, you can either set your diet up to suffer or set it up to cruise…

2. Eat Light During the Day So You Can Eat Big at Night — optimizes body’s ability to burn fat for a large portion of the day, most people find it relatively easy to cut calories and make better food choices during the day as long as they know they can eat a larger meal at night and get to end the day satiated and satisfied.

3. Unleash The Feasting Beast — If you’re eating a big, real, whole foods dinner, chances are you’ll be stuffed, and you won’t have much “room” leftover to binge on holiday foods like pie.

4. Don’t Fall Off the Infomercial Edge — Intermittent Feast is not a B.S. fad diet approach with the promise of some magical structure allowing you to eat crap every night. You still have to make good food choices most of the time to lose fat and optimize health.

5. Implement Strategic Cheats — Don’t waste a cheat night on bean dip and light beer. But at a party at a 5-star restaurant, where the company is buying everything, the top shelf of the bar is open, and the cleavage is out and about, it may be time to let loose.

I received an email recently from a new friend of mine — Chris Heskett. He had read some of my work, it made a huge difference in his physique, and he took 2nd place at the OCB Charm City Classic Physique Competition. Congrats my brother.

The dude looked awesome as you can see. This is the type of physique I think a lot of us aspire to achieve — lean, muscular, a throwback to a more classic physique instead of the chemical warfare/freak show that dominates the bodybuilding industry today. It was an honor to be informed that my nutrition advice was a part of his preparation.

Chris also has a real brother Benjamin (not brother as in the expression that I always like to use, kind of like Hulk Hogan). He also has a very impressive physique. They’ve agreed to come on here at some point and tell us more about their protocols. They are also hosting a natural bodybuilding/physique show in the Spring of 2013 — OCB Bodybuilding competition March 30 at Bloomsburg University. So if you are in the area, check it out.

In the meantime, if you want to connect with them, here are their facebook pages:

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The information on this site is intended for general informational purposes only. Nate Miyaki accepts no responsibility or liability for any injury, loss or damage to any party undertaking or performing the exercises, stretches, procedures or nutritional advice set out on this site. Individuals should always see their health care provider before implementing the suggestions made. This site is not intended to take the place of professional medical advice or to treat specific maladies. All parties undertake and perform such exercises, stretches, procedures, and nutritional advice at their own risk.